Method of treating textile yarns



Patented July 25, 1944 Mr'rnon or rename 'rnx'rmn Ylums Louis Jack Shops, St. Jean, Quebec, Maurice Adelard Boisclair, Ibervllle, Quebec, and Kendall Vensant Cooper and Peter Fristensky, St. ,Jean, Quebec, Canada, assigno'rs to The Richards Chemical Works, Jersey City, N. 1., a corporation of New Jersey No Drawing. Application June 3, 1941, Serial No. 396,392

3 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in the treatment and production of synthetic yarns and fabrics made therefrom.

More particularly, the invention relates to the treatment of regenerated cellulose yarns prior to the manufacture of fabrics or garments therefrom to produce treated synthetic yarns having desirable properties forwithstanding the mechanical operations to which they are subjected in the manufacture of fabrics and garments, particularly knitted garments and fabrics such as hosiery, etc. The invention also includes the improvements in the production ofknitted fabrics and garments from such treated yarns.

In the manufacture of hosiery from regenerated cellulose fiber yarns the yarns are subjected to various mechanical operations such as winding, doubling, twisting and knitting, which tend to rub and injure the yarns, to produce fuzz thereon, and sometimes to break the filaments of the yarns. a

In the manufacture of hosiery containing regenerated cellulose yarns or fibers, or of hosiery containing such fibers with silk, it is common practice to apply mineral oils, mixtures of mineral and vegetable oils, starches, waxes, etc. to the regenerated cellulose yarns to improve the so-called running properties of theyarn. Comparativel large quantities, generally. over 5%, of these materials are incorporated in the yarn, to improve the running quality of the yarn, but with limited improvement in the running properties.

The large amounts of materials used and pres ent in the knitted hosiery present an objectionable feature due to the difficulty offremoval in the securing operation to which the hosiery is subjected prior to finishing. These* products, moreover, give inadequate protection to the fibers against the destructive or injurious action of the mechanical operations to which they are subjected. Furthermore, when composite yarns of silk and regenerated cellulose are used in knitting hosiery, .and particularly in wet knitting, difiiculties arise from distortion in the stitch. The yarn tends to take on a variable percentage of moisture during the knitting operation, or after soaking the banks or yarns, to such an extent that the strain or stress on the yarns during by an improved treated regenerated cellulose yarn is produced welladapted to withstand to advantage the various mechanical operations to which the yarns are subjected, either ,alone or combined with .silk yarn, in the preliminary treatments and in the knitting of hosiery therefrom, such'as the winding, doubling, twisting, and-knitting operations.

We have discovered that by the use of suitable water repellent compositions as treating or siz-.

ing materials for regenerated cellulose yarns, the

chanical operations to which they are subjected.

Another advantageous result of the treatment of the yarns is that when these yarns are twisted together with silk into a composite yarn and then knitted into hosiery the regenerated cellulose yarns do not readily absorb water and do not produce uneven or distorted stitches even when the yarn is passed over or through the water troughs in knitting stockings.

After hosiery has been manufactured the hosiery is subjected to finishing operations such as scouring, dyeing,- sizing, etc. It is one advantage of the present invention that when hosiery produced from the treated yarns is subjected to securing the treating agents present are readily removed so that the subsequent operations of dyeing, sizing, etc. can advantageously be carried out and finished hosierymanufactured with appropriate sizing, etc. materials therein with the yarns preserved and protected from objection'able mechanical injury during the prelimiknitting causes distortion in the stitch, due to" variations in moisture content even with careful control and .humidiflcation.

The present invention provides an improved method of treating regenerated cellulose'yarns whereby-the difllculties and objections above.

nary mechanical operations to which the yarn is subjected prior to and during the knitting operations. g

The term regenerated cellulose fibersf is used to refer to fibers or yarns manufactured from processedicellulosef commonly known as viscose rayon and cuprammonium (Bemberg) rayon.

In referring to the treatment or sizing of the yarns the terms size and sizing" are to be understood as referring to the treatment of the mentioned are obviated or minimized, and whereso fibers or yarns with a protective agent to aid in the preparation of the final yarn or fabric; and the treating agents or compositions used are intended to be removed from the yarn or fabric before its final finishing treatment.

The sizing of the fibers or yarns is therefore to be distinguished from the sizing operations carried out as a part of the finishing of the final hosiery or fabric -where the size remains on the -basic nitrogen containing ester or amine compounds, used singly or in combination, and protective colloids such as glue, gelatin, casein, starch, gums, dimethyl cellulose, carbohydrates,

' sulphite waste liquors and othermaterials suitable as protective colloids; and emulsifying agents such as soap, sulphated fatty alcohols, sulphonated hydrocarbons, sulphated and sulphonated' vegetable, mineral and animal oils, aromatic sulphonates and the like, and salts such as aluminum formate, aluminum sulphate, aluminum acetate and other polyvalent salts as lead acetate, ferric sulphate, etc. Different combinations of these constituents prepared in emulsion form may also be used.

The invention will be further illustrated by the following specific examples, but it is intended and will be understood that the invention is illustrated thereby but is not limited thereto.

The silk referred to in some of the examples is natural raw silk which has been treated in accordance with methods familiar to the art to prepare it for the throwing andknitting operations.

Example 1.A water repellent sizing emulsion is prepared containing 10 parts of gelatin, 25 parts of bone glue, 1 part of alkyl naphthalene sulphonic acid sodium salt in paste form, 90 parts of paraflln wax of melting point 123-125", 175 parts of a aluminum acetate solution and suiiicient water to give a total of 505 parts.

100 pounds of denier cuprammonium rayon (Bemberg) skeins are placed in a circulating bath containing 500 pounds of water and 8 pounds of the above treating emulsion. The temperatureof the bath is 100 F. at the start and the circulating time is 2 hours.

Thereafter, according to methods familiar to the art, the yarn is extracted, dried at 120 F.- 130 F., wound on bobbins, given 10 tums right, and then doubled with 2 ends of 13/15 denier silk, and the doubled yarn given 20 turns right and coned. The yarn is steamed before and after coning in the manner familiar to the art.

The yarn is then knitted into the leg and foot of a stocking, on a 45 gauge hosiery machine, the yarn running over wet wicks. v

Throughout these operations the yarn has excellent running qualities, results in a uniformly knitted stocking, and the size on the Bemberg is readily removedin the scouring and dyeing operation;

Example 2.-100 pounds of 100 denier cuprammonium rayon (Bemberg) skeins are placed in a circulating bath containing 500 pounds of water and 4 pounds of treating emulsion described in Example 1. The temperature of the bath is 100 F. at the start and the circulating time is 2 hours.

Thereafter, in-a manner familiar to the art. the yarn is extracted, dried at 120-130 F., wound on bobbins, given 10 turns right and coned. The yarn is steamed before and after coning in the manner familiar to the art.

The yarn is then knitted into the welt of a stocking. The yarn so treated has excellent running qualities, results in uniformly knitted stockings, and the size is readily removed in the scouring and dyeing operation.

Example 3.-Stockings are knitted on a gauge machine using yarn treated as in Example 2 for the welt, and yarn treated as in Example 1 for the leg and foot, with cotton in the heel and toe. The yarn for the leg and foot passes over wet wicks.

The stocking so, produced is of good appearance, the loops and stitches being uniform.

Example 4.A treating emulsion is used which is an aqueous emulsion containing'6% of gelatin, 8.5% of a commercial fatty alcohol (ocenol) and 5% of a 22 B. aluminum formate solution.

4 pounds of denier viscose rayon skeins are placed in a circulating bath containing 20 pounds of water and 0.24 pound of treating emulsion for 1 hour, the initial temperature being 90 F. Thereafter, according to methods familiar to the art, the yarn is extracted to a weight of 8 pounds, dried at a temperature of 110-130 F., wound on bobbins, and then twisted with one end of 20/22 denier silk 20turns left and coned. The yarn is steamed before and after coning in the manner familiar to the art.

The yarn is then knitted into the leg and foot of hosiery on a 42 gauge hosiery machine, the yarn running over wet wigks during the knitting.

The treated viscose yarn and the subsequently combined viscose-silk yarn have excellent running and knitting qualities. The size on the viscose is readily removed in the scouring and dyeing operation. 1

Example 5.The treating emulsion employed ,for this example-is an aqueous emulsion containing 7% of a mixture of glue and gelatin (5 parts of bone glue and 2 parts of gelatin), 7% of paraflln wax, 7% of white mineral oil, 4% of cocoanut oil, 0.2% of a naphthalene sulfonic acid ester, and 7% of aluminum acetate.

4 pounds of 50 denier viscose rayon skeins are placed in a circulating bath containing 20 pounds of water and 0.24 pound of treating emulsion for 1 hour, the initial temperature being F.

Thereafter the yarn is treated, and twisted with silk, as in Example 4.

The yarn is then knitted into the leg and foot of hosiery on a 42 gauge hosiery machine, the yarn running over wet wicks during the knitting of the leg and through water troughs in the knitting of the foot. v

The yarn and the knitted stocking have the desirable characteristics hereinbefore referred to.

Example 6.The treating emulsion employed for this example is an aqueous emulsion containing 12% Daraflin wax, 5.5% of gelatin and glue, 6% of a. commercial fat alcohol (ocenol), 0.2% of naphthalene sulfonic acid ester, and 4.7% of aluminum acetate.

4 pounds of 50 denier viscose rayon skeins are The yarn is then treated as in Examples, advantageous results, as above described.

In a similar manner other suitable water repellent emulsions can be used, such as those hereinbeiore referred to, as treating or sizing materials for viscose and Bemberg yarns, with resulting improvement in the winding, doubling,

with

' twisting, and knitting properties of the yarns so used prevent or regulate the absorption of water by these treated fibers when they are twisted together with silk yarns and kmtted through or over water troughs. l. he regenerated cellulose yarns treated with the water repellent compositions do not readily absorb water.

Itwill thus be seen that the present invention improves the running qualities and ease of balldling of the treated yarn, provides excellent s,ss4,sss

ised'liosiery of similar desirable properties to be lubrication, and gives increased strength to the yarn, especially in wet knitting.

The treated yarn itself formsa valuable com- -mercial yarn for use in the manuiacture of knitted fabrics and garments, having the desir-- able properties hereinbefore referred to which adapt it to special advantage fonthis .purpose.

.The improved properties of the treated yarns when used in the manuiacture of knitted garments and hosiery result in the production of improved garments and hosiery free from the obJectionable effects of the mechamcal operations to which the yarns are sub ected and by which the fabrics and garments are produced.

The knitted fabrics and garments produced by the present invention contain the yarns protected from objectionable injury and the results of such injury during the manufacturing operations. Moreover, they contain only small produced therefrom.

We claim:

1. In a process in which regenerated cellulose yarns are treated with a treating agent, then twisted with silk yarns to form a composite yarn, and the composite yarns then wet knitted into articles and the knitted articles scoured prior to finishing; the improvement which comprises uniformly coating the regenerated cellulose yarns, prior to their twisting with the silk yarns, with a small amount of a water-repellent coating which will protect them against injury by rubbing, will retard the production of fuzz on them and reduce breakage and distortion of the stitch due to differential water absorption by regenerated cellulose and silk yarns, during mechanical operations incident to knitting, and which readily will be removed, by the scouring of the knitted articles, by immersing the regenerated cellulose yarns ma large amount of water containing a relatively small amount of an oleaginous material, a protective colloid and a' water-soluble salt of a polyvalent metal.

' a. in a process in which regenerated cellulose yarns are treated with a treating agent, then twisted with silk yarns to form a composite yarn, and the composite yarns then wet knitted into articles and the knitted articles scoured prior to finishing; the improvement which comprises uniformly coating the regenerated cellulose yarns,

prior to their twisting with the silk yarns, with a small amount of a waterrepellent coating which will protect them against injury by rubbing, will retard the production of fuzz on them and reduce breakage and distortion or the stitch.

due to differential water absorption by regeneratedlceliulose and silk yarns,'durmg mechanical operations incident to knitting, and which 40 readily will be removed by the scouring of the amounts of the treating compositions, and these treating compositions are readily removed dur-- ing t e finishing operations to which the fabrics and 'arments are subsequently subjected. -The objections incident to the presence oflarge amounts of treating materials in the yards and the difliculty of their removal are obviated or knitted articles, by immersing the regenerated cellulose yarns in a large amount of water containing a relatively small-amount of at least one material selected from the group consisting of oils, fats, higher fatty acids, waxes and higher v fatty alcohols, a protective colloid and a watersoluble' salt of a polyvalent metal.

3. In a process in which regenerated cellulose yarns are treated with a' treating agent, then,

twisted with silk yarns to forin a composite yarn,

and the composite yarns then wet knitted into minimized. The operations to which the garments or fabrics are subjected can thus be readily carried out to produce finished fabrics and garments such as hosiery therefrom.

The fabrics and garments of the present invention are to be considered as in the nature of greygoods or unfinished raw materials for the finishing operation. The treating or sizing materials used, aspreviously pointed out, are not those of the finishing operations but are used for treating the yarns prior to the manufacture of the hosiery and are to be removed, and are readily removable, from the knitted'hosiery, prior to finishing. However, the advantageous properties of theknitted fabrics and garments enable finished fabrics and garments to be prepared therefrom ot a particularly valuable, character. The improved properties of the knitted hosiery presremoved by the scouring of the knitted articles,

,cnt prior to the ilnlslungoperatlon enable flnarticles and the knitted articles scoured prior to finishing; the improvement which comprises uniformly coating the regenerated cellulose yarns.

prior to their twisting with'the silk yarns, with asmall amount of a water-repellent coating which will "protect them against injury by rubbing, will retard the production of fuzz on them and reduce 1 breakage and distortion of the stitch 'due to dif-.

ferential water absorption by regenerated cellulose and silk yarns, during mechanical operations I incident to knitting, and which will be by immersing the regenerated cellulose yarns in a large amount of water containing a relativelysmall amount of an oleaginous material, a protective colloid, an emulsifying agent a watersoluble salt of a polyvalent metal.

' LOUIS WACKSHEPS.

'MAURICE ADELARD BOISCLAIR. KENDALL VENSANT COOPER, 

